Aaryan Dinh-Ali (of Caledon, Ontario) was diagnosed with a bone
marrow disorder in November 2015. This is a very rare disease that
is life-threatening as the body stops producing healthy blood cells
leaving Aaryan at risk of infection and hemorrhaging. The only cure
for Aaryan is a bone marrow transplant.

It is a challenge to
find a bone marrow donor match, particularly in Aaryan's case as he
is of mixed ethnicity - Afghan and Vietnamese. A bone marrow match
is mostly likely to come from an individual with a similar ethnic
background. He is also an only child which means there is very
little chance of a match being found within our family. Neither of
Aaryan's parents is a match and so far, there has been no match in
his family.

The next option for finding a match is through
the public donor registries. Canada's registry is called One Match
and is administered by Canadian Blood Services. Another challenge -
people of ethnic backgrounds are not well-represented on the donor
registries, especially those of mixed race. Only 3% of the potential
donors on the registries our of mixed ethnicity.

To register
with One Match, it's a simple cheek swab to be added to the bone
marrow donor registry. The event on Saturday is a swab and
registration clinic in honour of Aaryan to help find a match for
Aaryan or the 12,000 other people around the world also in need of a
bone marrrow match. We are also looking to grow and diversify the
registry to be more reflective of Canada and represent people from
all different ethnicities.

The event is on Saturday, January
23 at 10 a.m - 6 p.m. at the Monte Carlo Inn Markham (8900 Woodbine Avenue)